Babies With Guns Continue to Shoot Themselves, Other Babies

Rewind a few weeks and you might recall how a certified sociopath and right-wing bumper sticker author named Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) delighted in the creation of the following tweet: “If babies had guns, they wouldn’t be aborted.” He loved it so much that he turned it into a slogan and a bumper sticker for his re-election campaign. The obvious message: anyone who carries a firearm is invincible, and therefore if babies were packing heat, they could theoretically kill abortion doctors in self-defense.

Naturally, this is complete and utter gibberish.

Gun owners aren’t invincible, of course. Statistically, people with a gun in the house, whether as a means of self-defense or otherwise, are more likely to be killed. Dave Waldman, aka KagroX, has been covering incident after incident in which idiot gun zealots have shot themselves or other people at Gun Appreciation Day events, at gun shows and during training classes. Furthermore, Stockman’s ridiculous slogan not-so-subtly implies that killing abortion doctors is probably a good idea. It’s no wonder why abortion clinics and doctors are the targets of domestic terrorism and homicides — it’s all but endorsed by the conservative entertainment complex and Republican political leaders. And given how the firearm industry manufactures a variety of rifles designed for children, it’s not a stretch to suggest that arming children is a goal of the NRA and the broader gun culture which it defends.

Perhaps I’m over-rationalizing Stockman’s awful tweet and the subsequent bumper sticker, but when politicians at any level imply that it’s okay to commit violence of any kind, especially with firearms, it can never be taken seriously enough. The very notion of an elected member of Congress even joking about the concept of children using firearms to kill other people is offensive almost beyond description — even more so considering how, in the weeks since Stockman’s original tweet, numerous “babies with guns” have used guns to kill or wound themselves or the children and adults around them. For example:

So yes, Mr. Stockman, you ass, babies have guns and the consequences are invariably tragic. Yet it’s the topic of a sneering, defiant bumper sticker from a far-right crackpot who dogmatically refuses to grasp the common denominator here. It’s not about race or class or whether the guns were legally obtained. The common denominator is the guns, not to mention the politicians, hobbyists and corporations who believe these tools — these consumer products — are sacred totems inextricably connected human rights and liberty. On the contrary, these are destructive, deadly machines manufactured for profit and they ought to be regulated as such, just like any other retail product. Certainly they shouldn’t be marketed to children like the 22 caliber Crickett or the various kiosks at the NRA convention last weekend. The last people in the world who should be handling firearms are children.

Yesterday, I signed up for a contest being held by Stockman’s re-election campaign. He’s giving away a free Bushmaster AR-15 — the exact make and model used at Sandy Hook. Classy. And if I happen to win, I plan to collect the prize and then destroy it. But I probably won’t win because I’m not from Stockman’s clearly ass-backwards district. Anyway, I noticed that you have to be 18-years-old to win the Sandy Hook assault rifle. So perhaps Stockman has some standards — babies can have guns, babies can be shot by guns, but if they want to own guns, they need to buy them. After all, he’s not a socialist.

This article cites some real statistics (like gun owners
being more likely to die) and then swiftly enters bullshit. Accidental gun
death (CDC–Go look) is not a major
cause of death for kids in any age group. It is a small subset of “Unintentional
Injury” which IS indeed THE leading cause of death of children from a little
after 1 year all the way through 44 years old. (Then cancer gets you, then over
65 and it is heart disease.) However, SOUNDLY beating out accidental gun deaths
are:

Unintentional suffocation

Unintentional drowning

Unintentional motor vehicle accident

Unintentional poisoning

Unintentional burn

Unintentional fall

Unintentional natural environment

Unintentional other land transport

Adverse effects

And to be fair, homicides and suicides with guns are present
in small, awful, numbers in these age ranges—but they are DWARFED by “Homicide
unspecified” and “Homicide Other”.

So I’m ALL FOR GUN CONTROL—make no mistake. But to point to
this statistic allows someone on the other side to say “OK, shall we outlaw
windows, medicine, swimming pools, and the outside natural world?” So please
don’t use this as an argument. You will do unintentional harm if you do.

Christopher Foxx

Accidental gun
death (CDC–Go look) is not a major
cause of death for kids in any age group.

So how many kids have to be hurt with guns before it becomes something we should worry about? 100 too few? Should we hold off concern until it gets over a thousand? Nah, that’s still DWARFED by highway deaths. Let’s wait until it hits 10,000. About 30 kids a day. That’s when we should start taking action.

Look, I appreciate that you’re “ALL FOR GUN CONTROL”, but to point to a statistic that lets someone on the other side rationalize that “this isn’t a significant problem” is harmful. So please don’t use this as an argument.

jonathantaylor

Give it up, arguing with tea party idiots is like arguing with crap in a toilet

Mama62

Doesn’t it matter that keep[ing guns away from children is something we can and should control? I’m not sure what can be done about windows. Swimming pools are required to be fenced in so unsuspecting children don’t fall into them and you can be arrested for not doing that.. Any responsible person would keep poisons away from children and also watches them when they are swimming. Those are just more examples of deaths to children from negligence. We can and should keep guns away from children, those deaths may not top the list thaey are ones that are avoidable..

Sandra Erickson

Bob Cesca: Has this image of mom and baby been photo shopped, or is that mother really allowing her infant to put a gun to her mouth? I posted this article to my FB page and a friend wanted to know…

jonathantaylor

This may have been photo shopped by Rush Limbaugh

http://www.facebook.com/jason.sinatra Jason Sinatra

I grew up around firearms my whole life and my Father had an FFL. It wasn’t out of the ordinary to come home and see a gun sitting on the kitchen table. According to your logic I must have just been “one of the lucky ones”???? these events that were listed are statistically insignificant. Why would I say that? Because SOOO MANY children that are around guns on either a daily basis or occasional basis DON’T KILL/HURT THEMSELVES OR OTHER PEOPLE. Just face the fact that “there will be accidents when anyone does anything” no matter how “safe” the action is percieved to be.

Christopher Foxx

Just face the fact that “there will be accidents when anyone does anything” no matter how “safe” the action is percieved to be.

Ah yes. The gun fan’s cry of “since we can’t prevent 100% of accidents, we shouldn’t bother to try.”

Those kids who have been killed and hurt? Eh, screw ‘em. Amiright?

Mama62

Gun deaths by and to children are avoidable when guns are owned by responsible people.. And yes, it sounds like you were lucky.

jonathantaylor

That is the problem, THERE ARE NO RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE LEFT!!!

http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

My ex-husband shot his brother in the back with a BB gun when they were both approx. 10 years old. If it had been a real gun, his brother would have died.

Children should not have access to guns. They do not have the judgement even if they are made aware of what guns can do. These types of accidents are entirely preventable.

jonathantaylor

That doesn’t make them toys!!!!

julie laura rose

The more I know people, the more I love my dog.

Christopher Foxx

but when politicians at any level imply that it’s okay to commit violence of any kind, especially with firearms, it can never be taken too seriously

On the contrary. Bullies and idiots in positions of power should always be taken very seriously.

http://www.twitter.com/bobcesca_go Bob Cesca

Exactly and that’s kinda what I meant. Changed the wording to be more clear.

Christopher Foxx

Ah. On re-reading the original text with that in mind t I see what you meant. Your re-wording is better, but I see where I misunderstood.

DrowningKittens

How about the 53 million murdered before they became babies?

Christopher Foxx

Ah, yes. And so we here from the self-professed “right to life” crowd, who expresses absolutely No. Concern. At. All. for all of the children killed with freely available guns.

DrowningKittens

After you finish all your hysteria, the fact remains that gun killings have decreased over the last 20 years. Agendas are blind to facts. You’re committing a character assassination in trying to paint the opposition as having no concern for children. It’s a weak argument.

Running at a clip of more than a million deaths per year is a defense? I’m sure you would agree that at least it’s heading in the right direction.

Ipecac

Abortions would be practically non-existent if the religious right would stop interfering with comprehensive sex education and dissemination of contraceptives to all who need it.

DrowningKittens

I agree with some of that and I don’t have any problem with much of that. Just don’t force it on me.

Ipecac

Not sure how anyone could force education and the use of contraceptives ON you, but okay.

If you agree with some of that, perhaps rather than trying to restrict abortion, you might advocate for the supply-side solution. Reducing unintended pregnancies is a guaranteed, sure fire way to reduce abortions.

Christopher Foxx

Reducing unintended pregnancies is a guaranteed, sure fire way to reduce abortions.

Right, they just think that people should freely be able to have them and even in certain cases that people that disapprove of them should have to pay for them through taxes. I have a compromise. I will be okay with my tax dollars going to planned parenthood If you guys become okay with the Eddie the Eagle Child Gun Safety Program being instituted in all federally funded schools of children under 12. Deal? of course not you don’t agree with it. The difference is I’m trying to spend money to educate children and give them the tools to keep themselves safe whereas they want money so they can continue to let people life certain lifestyles. I wish there was a poll out there to determine how many pregnancies were aborted at planned parenthood where the mother was raped or the prenancy would have cause life-threatening health issues versus them just “not being ready for a baby” Guess what. I wasn’t ready for a baby. I would also go out on a limb to say that if you think you’re ready for a baby….you’re wrong but, she lights up my life everyday since the day she was born.

Christopher Foxx

I have a compromise. I will be okay with my tax dollars going to planned parenthood If you guys become okay with the Eddie the Eagle Child Gun Safety Program being instituted in all federally funded schools of children under 12. Deal?

I could go with that. Provided the Gun Safety Program is truly a gun safety program, and not a thinly veiled scheme to advocate for guns. In which case, the first thing taught and stressed as Rule Number One For Gun Safety is that guns are extremely dangerous and not something children should be playing with.

Mama62

So simple. You are not a woman, you shouldn’t get to decide. If you don’t ever want any of your potential offspring to be aborted…..make sure you don’t impregnate anyone. That’s how you can do your part to stop abortion.

DrowningKittens

Teaching a lifestyle and calling it education is equally as oppressive as the other side teaching no contraception and forcing you to live that way.

Ipecac

You keep using that word. To which “lifestyle” are you referring? Human sexuality? You are aware that nearly all humans, everywhere, have sex? Whether gay, straight, young or old, it is a fundamental part of being human. Educating children on sexuality and how to protect themselves from disease and pregnancy should not be controversial for anyone who is living in reality. You don’t encourage sex by teaching it, but you do give people the tools to control their own lives and to make good choices. (And, incidentally, decrease abortions.) Also, your lack of understanding of what Obamacare does is duly noted.

DrowningKittens

I’ll make it simple:
Obamacare forces me to buy insurance.
The insurance covers behaviors I disagree with.
Therefore, it doesn’t matter what I think, I’m forced to support things I would never support given the CHOICE.

Ipecac

So you don’t have insurance because you don’t want any of your insurance dollars going to someone else theoretically getting some medical procedure you disagree with. Is that right? You are taking a “moral” stance by not spending your dollars on something you find objectionable.

Here’s the deal. By not having insurance, you are passing along the inevitable costs, when you become ill or are in an accident, to me. Taxpayer funds cover uninsured emergency room costs and I pay for that. So you, in essence, are taking away MY choice and forcing me to cover your medical care. Is that about right? I’m the one paying for your moral choice, not you.

Do you not see the hypocrisy in your position?

DrowningKittens

I see the hypocrisy in the positions you’ve laid out but that’s not my position at all. By force, people lose choices with Obamacare that they freely enjoy now. But this is picking flees off the elephant in the room. Medical costs are the problem and Obamacare addresses that by piling on even more expenses for less care.

Ipecac

Funny that medical costs have dropped since Obamacare was enacted and will likely continue to drop as more provisions come into play.

DrowningKittens

Mine just went up 20% and they’re saying expect that again next year. I guess Obamacare hasn’t kicked in for me yet.

Christopher Foxx

Yes. We’d hate to force education on you.

DrowningKittens

Education is fine. Your lifestyle isn’t.

Mama62

Your lifestyle is your concern. That of others is not. FYI, The Affordable Care Act has nothing to do with lifestyle. I’s about access to healthcare, everyones health care. Insurance compaines have been quietly covering BC for years. The outrage is smoke and mirrors to object to anything that comes from this administration. No one can force you to use BC if you don’t want it. But you don’t get to decide if others do or not. See the difference?

DrowningKittens

I’m not trying to decide anything for anyone. Do whatever you want. I couldn’t care any less what you do. In fact, it isn’t even any of my business. The problem is when you do the things I don’t believe in and they blow up in your face, you expect me to foot the bill.

Ipecac

We are a society. We all contribute to the well-being of our society. We all contribute some of our resources to things we disagree with. As a practical matter, there is no way to let people only contribute to those things they agree with. I don’t want my tax money going to the F-35 program but I don’t have a choice. I deal with it. So should you.

And your “bill” goes up considerably when teens have unintended children, much moreso than the cost of comprehensive sex education and birth control. If you really want to lower your “bill” then you’d support both.

DrowningKittens

Do I really have to acknowledge that I know full well I pay for thousands of things I don’t agree with? I just choose to fight the meaningful ones like any other patriot who believes his freedoms are being purged.

You’re ignoring decades of jurisprudence with that claim. All rights under the Constitution are subject to some limits.

Mama62

Do you have a uterus?

DrowningKittens

No.

Christopher Foxx

DrowningKittens: Agendas are blind to facts. You’re committing a character assassination in trying to paint the opposition as having no concern for children. It’s a weak argument.

So, yes, I agree that agendas are blind to facts. It would be silly to disagree when you’ve demonstrated it so well.

This article is about children being killed because of the easy availability of guns. Yet you said nothing about that. Not one thing. Instead you ignore those facts and press your “pro-life” agenda.

Why should anyone see you has having any concern for children when you ignore them being killed, DrownedKittens?

(And what one might infer about your respect for life from your chosen handle?)

DrowningKittens

This article is nothing but hysteria and that was my original point. To repeat, how can you have compassion for anything if you approve of 53 million lives disappearing?

Mama62

Let’s worry about the living. I worry about those who are born and abused, those who are born and unwanted and end up in dumpsters, those who are starved to death or shaken to death or burned to death or traded for sex and drugs or sold on the black market for who knows what perverse crimes. Those who are born and left behind by society to struggle in poverty and dispair, those who had no choice and often no way out.
Just to mention a few you could worry about.

I’m sure that hearing that “gun killings have decreased” will provide much consolation to those who have lost loved ones to gun violence over the last 20 years.

DrowningKittens

I don’t know. Maybe you can get some insight by asking the 53 million souls that never got the chance to even know their loved ones.

http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

Good God, you’re a bloody relentless idiot.

DrowningKittens

Well there kitten, I didn’t realize my silly little observation would stir up such a hornets nest. But thanks for letting me know you’re in over your head.

http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

“thanks for letting me know you’re in over your head”

No. I do not generally engage with right wing idiots on anything but a very superficial level. See, unlike many people, I’ve already learned that the right wing has no interest in learning anything that might conflict with their warped view of the world.

In your case, you seem to be generally detestable and stupid, thus, you’re unworthy of conversation that requires more than a minute or two of my time.

Stick that in your fucking little head, and try not to choke on it.

DrowningKittens

That’s because your hate is for the person, not the ideology.

http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

I despise modern Republicans who have turned hate for everyone who isn’t exactly like them into targets. Because of this, it will be a very long damn time before we allow you to regain the White House.

And by the way, I do not want to pay for Republican wars. And yet, I do. I know that said wars cost one hell of a lot more than birth control, abortions, and all the other things you guys hate to pay for. You’d think that some of you would be smart enough to shut up.

DrowningKittens

1. You have misplaced hate. 2. Your control over who wins the White House extends no further than your one vote. 3. I agree with you on the wars. There’s no reason to keep fighting and paying for wars you won years ago.

http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

1. nah…..not at all misplaced
2. really? Liberals have long had a habit of lying down and allowing the RW to run over them. It has cost us elections, time after time. No more. We will do everything in our collective power to ensure that a Republican does not sit in the WH for as long as it is necessary to do so.

3. Idiot.

DrowningKittens

Your way or the highway, got it. You still only have one vote.

http://www.facebook.com/jason.sinatra Jason Sinatra

Those events that resulted in the death of children were tragic. but an inanimate object simply can’t be blamed for it. What happened in all of those scenarios where accidents that could have been avoided but accidents all the same.

http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

Yeah. It’s never the fault of the fearmongering gun owners church of the NRA, is it?

It IS the fault of the idiot parents who bought these things, and were fucking stupid enough to fall for the NRA’s poisonous propaganda.

Christopher Foxx

“Guns are great for your kids! They’ll enjoy playing with them! Really, go buy some. And then buy some more! Have lots of guns in your house. They’ll help keep you safe!!
And if anything does go wrong, it’s your fault for listening to us!! Not ours, we didn’t contribute to this in any way!”

Mama62

If you really believe that then stop letting the NRA push for anyone and everyone to won guns regardless of theri capacity to own one responsibily. Do you think those parents who left those gunbs where children could get to them were repsonsible? No, they were negligent and in my opinion criminally so. I own guns, I am a 65 year old Grandmother. I can gurarantee you that none of my children or grandchildren can get their hands on mine. People need to be held responsible and they need to lose their right to own guns when they prove they can’t be trusted with them. We know there are people out there who should not be allowed to own or buy guns. I am a law abiding citizen and I have no problem with a background check for anyone purchaasing a gun form any source, including me. I also have no problem with gun registration and the lawful owner of a gun being in possession of the paperwork that says he/she owns that gun legally. If we can’t sort out the legal guns from the illegal ones, we will never solve this problem. Everytime we take an illegally purchased or stolen gun off the street, we make the world safer. Eventually it gets harder for the ciminals to get them. Not right away, but eventually. The goal should be that someday only legal guns in the hands of qualified owners are the only ones we have to worry about. Not guns in the hands of criminals, mentally ill or God forbid, children.

http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

Yes,because it’s much more important to protect potential babies/eggs rather than those living………you know, BORN, and are actually out of the womb.

bamagrad03

I’d say it’s equal. Since, you know, it’s not like they sprinkle magic human dust on the ones who are delivered…

http://www.twitter.com/bobcesca_go Bob Cesca

Abortion isn’t murder. Unless you consider a miscarriage to be involuntary manslaughter.

How about the $758 million from WIC (Women, Infants and Children), the $1.3 billion from Community Health Centers and the $210 million from Maternal and Child Health Block Grants that House Republicans proposed to cut from the budget? All of these provide care for low-income pregnant and postpartum women and newborn infants.

There is nothing quite as disgusting as a braying Republican pontificating on abortion and claiming to be pro-life, while at the same time waging class-war on the poor, on women and children and non-whites everywhere. You are not pro-life; you are insane!

Christopher Foxx

Now, now, Abbey. You know a commitment to the sanctity of life and welfare of children only counts for those not actually yet born.

Once there is actually a child to protect, they couldn’t care less.

http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

“Once there is actually a child to protect, they couldn’t care less.”

Exactly.

DrowningKittens

First of all, I’m not a pro lifer and I’m not a Republican. You make a lot of assumptions and seem to be just looking for an argument. I simply made an ironic equivalence on an article that’s trying to raise the level of hysteria on gun control.

http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

Oh, bull. You are an anti-choicer, and you are a right wing cretin.

Own it.

DrowningKittens

I don’t agree with abortion except in rape or incest. Just my opinion. I’m no hard liner or activist. Make all the choices you want because frankly, it’s none of my business. It makes no difference to me if you have 20 abortions a week. Just don’t send me the bill. That’s all.

Mama62

And exactly who is sending you the bill. Right wing talking points from a non-Republican?? Go figure.

DrowningKittens

I haven’t gotten a bill yet, so no problem. Is that a Republican talking point, too?

http://twitter.com/KenKorpse Kenneth Korpse

Well, at least there is the intellectual honesty to not use a photo of a baby with a squirt gun as an emotional cudgel. Oh.

Treading_Water

Of course the baby has the intellectual maturity to discern the difference between a squirt gun and a real gun and tragedy could never occur.

http://www.facebook.com/hugos.lavia.37 Hugo S LaVia

I say Let Natural Selection continue to thin the herd.

http://twitter.com/tlavely Tony Lavely

Unfortunately, Natural Selection only works if the ‘undesireable’ trait mainfests before reproduction, to prevent the gene(s) responsible from being passed along.

MontanaSid

Kfreed: I agree with you. Some of the people in my family are Neanderthals when it comes to guns. No matter where they go they take ALL their guns. Christmas dinner and the living room was filled with gun cases and all the kids got rifles as presents.

kfreed

I will henceforth stop trying to warn stupid people that their idiotic ideology is detrimental to their survival. From now on, I intend to sit back and let evolution run its course. If these people absolutely demand the right to kill themselves and their children with their own stupidity, who am I to stand in their way?

This has gone beyond tragic farce and I’m done with it. There aren’t enough hours in the day.

Sandra Erickson

I know – I am pretty digusted with the stupidity of the whole issue, but a lot of innocent people are getting hurt, as well – and, of course, the gun manufacturers and their political cronies are getting wealthier by the minute.